Man of War Studios
Well-Known Hunter
Hey Guys,
Wanted to show you the new locking mechanism I created for my 2009 gauntlets. The standard Velcro closure design has been driving me nuts for years now like it has for a lot of you I'm sure. In it's place I'm using the smallest center release buckle I could find for the overall closure mechanism. The center release or CR buckles are 1/2" in size and stand only 1/8" tall allowing for a very low profile. Each CR buckle is held in place with metal straps and plug inserts as shown in the photos below. You may notice that the CR buckle in the rear doesn't line up with the one in the front. This is due to the angle of the gauntlet themselves. I had to make an adjustment by lowering the front buckle at the wrist. "No big deal". The new 09" gauntlets will also have this hard resin bottom section as well replacing the previous vacuumed formed versions. I sculpted the new hard bottom sections to look just like the vacuumed versions
The vacuumed bottoms were just to unpredictable for my taste in the end. I hope you'll like these new resin versions. They've got excellent strength and there's no fighting about putting them on or removing them because we've gotten rid of the Velcro. I'm also going back to the flat metal hinge design too..I tried a Nylon flexible hinge or what's commonly called a "Living Hinge" but the classic flat metal hinge just looked better so there it is. This new locking design works great and is simple to use. You'll have to remove your flame retardant gloves to feel the center release push tabs when removing the gauntlets but it's a small price to pay when compared to fighting with a Velcro closure. I'll be continuing to make ROTJ version gauntlets with these new upgrades and perhaps some ESB's too..Feel free to drop me a PM if your interested in picking up a set or for further details..Best, Christian
Wanted to show you the new locking mechanism I created for my 2009 gauntlets. The standard Velcro closure design has been driving me nuts for years now like it has for a lot of you I'm sure. In it's place I'm using the smallest center release buckle I could find for the overall closure mechanism. The center release or CR buckles are 1/2" in size and stand only 1/8" tall allowing for a very low profile. Each CR buckle is held in place with metal straps and plug inserts as shown in the photos below. You may notice that the CR buckle in the rear doesn't line up with the one in the front. This is due to the angle of the gauntlet themselves. I had to make an adjustment by lowering the front buckle at the wrist. "No big deal". The new 09" gauntlets will also have this hard resin bottom section as well replacing the previous vacuumed formed versions. I sculpted the new hard bottom sections to look just like the vacuumed versions
The vacuumed bottoms were just to unpredictable for my taste in the end. I hope you'll like these new resin versions. They've got excellent strength and there's no fighting about putting them on or removing them because we've gotten rid of the Velcro. I'm also going back to the flat metal hinge design too..I tried a Nylon flexible hinge or what's commonly called a "Living Hinge" but the classic flat metal hinge just looked better so there it is. This new locking design works great and is simple to use. You'll have to remove your flame retardant gloves to feel the center release push tabs when removing the gauntlets but it's a small price to pay when compared to fighting with a Velcro closure. I'll be continuing to make ROTJ version gauntlets with these new upgrades and perhaps some ESB's too..Feel free to drop me a PM if your interested in picking up a set or for further details..Best, Christian
